The Dare
by beautifulweather
Summary: Colton gets jealous over a dare. Is it all worth it? Jessica/Colton #americanidol


Author's note: This is my first time writing an RL fic so be kind. :)

It was a sunny afternoon in Los Angeles and everyone on the Idol tour was taking a quick break from rehearsals. Exactly 10 days ago, the entire American idol family convened once again to rehearse for its annual summer tour. While everyone else was inside grabbing bites to eat and sipping cola, a young woman with a tiny frame was making her way out of the studio. Jessica could not be any happier that she was blessed with this opportunity to become part of the hit reality show. It's been weeks since the finale and she's still getting used to the feeling that she actually made it this far. She smiled as she spotted a rest bench nearby. She sat down and soaked up all the heat, reminding herself of how lucky she is to be a part of this experience.

"Jessica?" a voice called out.

She was suddenly shaken from her thoughts and turned her head towards the direction of the voice. It was Colton Dixon, one of her closest friends on the show. He smiled as he approached her.

"What are you doing outside?"

She smiled back and answered, "just thinking."

"About what?" he asked, taking a seat beside her on the rest bench.

"About how crazy this whole thing is."

He nudged her side and gave her a bright smile. Before he could respond, she suddenly remembered to ask him something she's been dying to know. "What's your favorite color?"

"Black and white" he answered. "Oh good!" she exclaimed, taking out a small plastic package from her front jean pocket. "I got you this!" she said, reaching out for his left hand. She opened his palm and placed the small packet on top before he allowed his fingers to close in on it.

"What's this?" he asked, examining the plastic and its contents. "Just open it! Come on!" she said, feeling all giddy and excited. He tore open the plastic and snatched what was held inside. His face turned all shades of red. He was too happy to say something so instead he gave her a hug. She was caught off guard and lost her balance but he was quick to catch her from falling off the bench.

"That was close!" he said, trying to put her back in place. She laughed and said "it's okay. So it's either you hate my gift that you wanted to push me over or you absolutely adore it that you wanted to crush me to pieces."

He laughed and answered, "well I didn't mean to push you over and I don't want to crush you into pieces either. However, I do LOVE your gift and that is why we almost fell off the bench."

She smiled at him "so you like it?"

"Are you crazy? I love it!" he said, holding out her gift. It was a lapel pin that had a very familiar design. It was a glossy maroon cross that also resembled the letter T, very much similar to the one from his name design on his website and twitter page.

"I saw it from a website designing custom made lapel pins. I think that's where Randy gets his but who knows… I'm glad you like it!" she said, smiling at him.

"I can't believe you got me this!" he said, still examining the pin.

"It's not really much but I thought you might be able to use it in the future… you know, when you do interviews and other media stuff. It's gonna look nice!"

He smiled at her and said, "you know I'm gonna give you that big hug again right?" He did as promised and made them both fall off the bench. He was quick enough to catch her and made sure that he cautioned their fall. His swift move made her land on top of him with her face merely inches from his.

It seemed like ages as they stared at each other and it took them almost a minute to realize their awkward position on the cement floor. She coughed and pulled herself up to a sitting position. She reached out her hand to help him and he quickly grabbed it only to pull her back down. She was caught off guard once again and landed on top of him. Colton hugged her close to him and they just laughed at the silliness of it all.

"Thanks for my gift, Jess. I really appreciate it. I wish I could've gotten you something" he said, pulling away slightly from their hug.

She lightly punched his chest and said, "don't worry about it. But you have to pinky promise me that you will wear it on your next interview."

He held out his pinky and said, "I pinky promise."

She met him halfway and their pinkies were locked for quite some time. Until a voice was heard from the studio doors "Colton? Jessica?" It was Heejun looking for them.

They reluctantly pulled apart. They helped each other stand up and straightened out their clothes. "What happened here?" Heejun asked, with a hint of playfulness. He spotted the two standing up form the ground and fixing their clothes. He wondered what could have happened and he is determined to find out.

"We fell off the bench because this skinny dude attacked me" Jessica replied, still brushing off dirt from her jeans.

Colton laughed and answered back "you just couldn't handle the skinny side of me."

Heejun looked at them with confusion and said, "That doesn't even make sense. You know if you guys wanted to make out, you could have used the bench and not the floor."

Colton and Jessica both turned red and they each gave out awkward laughs. "You're funny" Colton said, wrapping an arm around Heejun's neck and ushering him away from Jessica.

"I think I'll head back inside now. I'm getting a little hungry." Jessica said, walking past the two boys and making her way back inside the studio.

As soon as she was out of earshot, Heejun asked, "so what really happened man?"

Colton tightened his arm around Heejun's neck and answered "I told you, we fell! Trust me, if I made out with her, I don't think I'll be able to talk straight for days."

Heejun smiled at the revelation. He decided that was enough. He was right all along. Colton did have a silly little boy crush on Jessica. He was teasing him since they reunited after Colton's elimination. It started out as a joke to tease Colton with all the girls form the show but as days went by, and Colton started hanging out a lot with Jessica, Heejun started teasing him more. It became clear to him that Colton might have a little crush on her when he suddenly wanted to come along with them whenever Jeremy would ask Jessica to hang out. Maybe he wasn't completely jealous but he definitely didn't want anyone else –especially guys who were interested in her, to hang with Jessica alone.

"Let's go back inside" Heejun said, walking back to the studio where everyone else was waiting.

Later in the evening, the group decided to stay up late and play some old-fashioned card game. A bet was made that whoever lost in each round will have to accept a dare from the winner. So far, Elise was losing and she accepted a dare from Joshua to sing the alphabet backwards three times.

The night was going great! Everyone was having tons of fun! They were now on their 5th round and Jessica just had her first lost. The winner of the round was Heejun and Jessica was ready to accept her challenge. Heejun looked at Colton who seemed to have taken more interest in shuffling the cards and then he looked at Jessica who was practically begging him with her eyes. The two were seated right next to each other on the living room floor while Heejun sat right across from them. He suddenly had a great idea for a dare.

"I dare you to get me some hot chocolate from the café downstairs" he said. Jessica let out a sigh of relief at Heejun's request. And then he added, "take Jeremy with you. You need an escort." Colton's head shot up at the mention of Jeremy's name. He looked at Heejun and then at Jessica. She seemed like she didn't mind at all which only made him feel more nervous. To be honest, Jessica didn't mind taking Jeremy with her. They are good friends after all and she only saw him as a big brother. She smiled at Heejun and gave him a high five as a way of saying thank you for giving her such an easy task. However, Colton thought their high five was her way of saying thanks for letting Jeremy come. He suddenly felt weird at the thought. Heejun smiled as he watched them leave the room and said, "don't wander off you two!"

Suddenly, Hollie remembered something and said, "wait, are we gonna wait for them or are we gonna start a new round? Cause I don't think they'll be back anytime soon. That café is always full!"

"Jessica thought that was an easy task! It's gonna take her ages to get you that drink!" Skylar said, in agreement with Hollie. Elise and Erika proceeded with telling everyone a story of how it took them almost an hour just to get an espresso down there.

All this talk about the café downstairs only made Colton more nervous. _What am I nervous about anyway?_ He thought to himself. _She should be okay, Jeremy's with her._ And then it hit him. Jeremy is with her and they'll be gone for almost an hour! He tried to shake the thoughts away and decided that it was best not to think about it so much.

"You okay buddy?" Heejun asked, taking the seat beside him.

"Yeah, of course! Let's get on with this game!" he said, shaking his hands and upper body in preparation for the next round. As much as Colton wanted to rid himself of his thoughts earlier, it just won't seem to leave his brain. He kept looking at the clock and wondering what's taking them so long. Different scenarios kept playing in his head and he couldn't concentrate on the game anymore. He ended up losing that round and Heejun smiled knowingly. Colton was definitely not okay. It's a good thing Elise won that round. Like Heejun, she also knew something was up.

Elise smiled and looked at Heejun. She gave Colton a pat on the back and said, "Alright Colton Dixon, I dare you to go to the café downstairs, grab Jessica and bring her back here. She's been gone for way too long! We need her back!"

By the look on Colton's face, it seemed as if he just landed a million-dollar recording contract. He smiled at Elise and brought his hand up in a salute. "Yes ma'am!"

Heejun gave Elise a high five as they watched Colton dash out of the room as fast as he can. As soon as Colton arrived at the entrance of the café, he noticed the pack of people lining up to place their orders. He tried to look for Jessica and Jeremy but it was too hard to find them. He rushed inside and pushed past groups of people. Finally, he saw a bright green jacket that could only be Jessica's. She was waiting for her order near the counter and Jeremy was right beside her with his arm securely placed around her waist. Of course he didn't know that Jeremy was only doing that to protect Jessica from the abundance of café goers. That sight only made Colton even more nervous than he was a few minutes ago. His heart was still racing from all that running and pushing and shoving and now he's here. He's close. He can't let anything get in the way of accomplishing his dare –or at least that's what he's been telling himself. He took a deep breath and approached the pair. Jeremy spotted him and smiled. He already knew what was going to happen. Like Elise and Heejun, and possible everyone else too, Jeremy knew that something was definitely going on. None of them were sure what it really was between the two but there's no denying that they have become closer than ever and they flirt a lot too. It was only a matter of time before something like this needed to happen.

Jeremy removed his arm from Jessica's waist and it was quickly replaced by Colton's. "You are badly needed back there young lady," he said, whispering in Jessica's ear.

She recognized that voice. She smiled as she turned to face the speaker. "Am I?" she flirted back.

Jeremy rolled his eyes and decided it was time for him to leave. Fortunately, the hot chocolate was served just in time. "I'll take this. See ya upstairs!" he said as he took the cup and waved goodbye to the pair.

The two youngsters waved back. "So I guess I'll be the one escorting you back upstairs?" Colton said, with his arm still around her waist and pulling her closer to him.

"I'm okay with that," she answered, pulling away from him. He made a sad face and she laughed at how adorable he looked. She gave him a peck on the cheek and reached down to link her hand with his. He smiled at her and said, "Let's go back."

They walked hand in hand back to the hotel room where everyone else was waiting. Colton was about to open the hotel room door when Jessica pulled him back. "Something wrong?" he asked, looking very concerned.

She hesitated for a brief moment before she answered, "why'd you come to get me?"

He smiled as he reached out to hold both her hands in his. "I was dared. I lost and Elise won and she dared me to come get you."

She suddenly felt weird after hearing that. Honestly, she was hoping for a different answer. "Oh. Thanks I guess," she replied, feeling quite sad at her false expectations.

But the look on her face did not go unnoticed and Colton sighed. "Look, I don't know how to say this but if I'm gonna be honest here, I think you should know that it's not just about the dare. It felt weird seeing you and Jeremy run off together even if it was just a short trip to the café downstairs. I sort of didn't like it I guess cause of the weird feeling. I don't know, I really don't. All I know is that if you're gonna go to that café, I want to be the one you go with. And that's why I came." A furious blush crept up on his face and as much as he wanted to, he just couldn't lie to her.

Despite his expectations of a hard slap on the face or a kick in the you-know-where, he was surprised to see Jessica with this huge smile on her face. She let go of his hand and wrapped her tiny fingers on his shirt to pull him closer. He raised his eyebrow and smirked. "You're not gonna kick me in the balls are you?" he asked.

She laughed and instead of answering back, she planted a soft kiss on his lips. It seemed like eternity to both of them but it was really only for a couple of seconds. He smiled at the kiss and before she could pull away, he wrapped both of his arms around her tiny waist and pulled her closer to deepen the kiss.

After a minute of so of lip lock action, the two pulled apart and smiled at each other. "wow! Um, that was… yeah. Finally!" Colton said, resting his forehead against hers.

She laughed and said, "same here." Colton could not be any happier! He certainly will not be able to talk straight for days now. And he couldn't care less.

"So do you still wanna play that card game back inside?" she asked, wrapping both her arms around his neck.

"Over this? No chance," he replied pulling her against him once more and giving her the best kiss in the world.


End file.
